What If the Germans Joined the Union against the Confederacy During the Civil War.

I believe that German involvement would start to put more pressure on the confederacy, who would probably get France and the British empire involved. It may even start WWI a half century earlier.
 
What Germans?! There are no Germans in 1860/1861. Why would they get involved to begin with? Lincoln would thank them for their offer and turn them down. They giving assistance will complicate things regarding the Confederacy. The US doesn't need help in stamping out a rebellion will be what Washington says.
 
What Germans?! There are no Germans in 1860/1861. Why would they get involved to begin with? Lincoln would thank them for their offer and turn them down. They giving assistance will complicate things regarding the Confederacy. The US doesn't need help in stamping out a rebellion will be what Washington says.

Not to mention that the various German states were rather pre-occupied with the conflict that would ultimately lead up to the German Unification at the time.
 

67th Tigers

Banned
You mean Prussia and the North German Confederation?

Such a conflict could perhaps occur, perhaps by the following sequence of events.

After the Battle of Antietam the British and French seriously considered intervention in the ACW, or at least recognising the CSA. Assume they recognise the CSA. The USA breaks off diplomatic relations with the British and the French, but it doesn't get as far as war for a few months.

In the meantime, the January Rising occurs in Poland, and the British and French recognise the Poles too (i.e. the "rights of small nations" faction is ascendent), leading to the Russians and Prussians allying and declaring war on the French and British. The USA, finally gets the guts to challenge the British ships trading with the CSA and sparks off a war with the allies.

The sides line up as:

Allies: British Empire, French Empire, Spanish Empire, Austrian Empire and Bavaria?, Ottoman Empire, Mexico, Denmark, CSA, Polish Rebels

Axis: Russia, Prussia, USA, Mexican Rebels

Which way Italy falls will be interesting, they naturally favour the French, fear the Austrians and want the Popes territories (which are being held by a French Division in Rome)


The European war would be interesting, Russia and Prussia combined can put over a million men into the field....
 
Germany, France and Britain would want to get involved with the ACW...Why? Hasn't this been done dozens of times before?
 

67th Tigers

Banned
Germany, France and Britain would want to get involved with the ACW...Why? Hasn't this been done dozens of times before?

The British and French certainly considered intervening four times (the last attempt was awaiting first reading when news of the failure of Lees invasion of Pennsylvania reached England, and was quietly dropped).

The Prussians are hard to get in, they naturally favoured the CSA, so you need to change the dynamic somehow.
 
The British and French certainly considered intervening four times (the last attempt was awaiting first reading when news of the failure of Lees invasion of Pennsylvania reached England, and was quietly dropped).

The Prussians are hard to get in, they naturally favoured the CSA, so you need to change the dynamic somehow.

Don´t see that Prussia favoured the CSA. Public support in all german states favoured the Union and King Wilhelm and Bismarck, I´m sure saw in the confeds nothing else that a bunch of rebels.
 
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